Gordon's YouTube blunder
turns out not to have been the best vehicle for the Prime Minister when it came to launching his initiative on the reform of MPs' expenses. , he's desperately looking for a fallback position and his YouTube performance has become a comic classic -- someone has even set it to techno music ().
Becoming a figure of fun is a dangerous development for a PM, as John Major found out to his cost -- indeed he never really recovered from the ridicule and went on to lose by a record landslide in 1997. Mr Brown is not in such dire straits but when even your own side is questioning your judgement and hundreds of thousands are laughing at you on the net, then things are pretty serious.
Labour MPs are furious with the PM's bungled attempt to grab the initiative over expenses -- "complete hash" is the off-the-record consensus. Some say the whole sorry episode has been a blow to his credibility. Not only is he at loggerheads with much of his own party over the issue, he failed to win the backing of the Tories or the Lib Dems and has also fallen out with Christopher Kelly, the sleaze watchdog who last night refused the PM's request to speed up his investigation into expenses.
Add to that another irritant in the shape of former Blairite Cabinet minister Stephen Byers. In a in the House of Commons last night, Mr Byers, said: "I think we will regret it for many years to come in the Labour Party. I don't think the case for the 50p rate has been made." He claimed the government had fallen into an "elephant trap" which was so large even a short-sighted "old tusker" should have been able to see it.
I wouldn't over-estimate the significance of this intervention -- Mr Brown is not going to fall because he raised the top rate of tax to 50%, a pretty popular move with the Labour faithful -- but the PM could have done without it.
Nor does taxing the rich seem to be doing much for his popularity. puts the Tories on 45% and Labour on only 26% -- giving the Tories a massive 19-point lead. Some on the Labour side will see that as beyond the point of no return.
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